Wannabe Rocket Scientist at the Washington Post

It’s All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go., Washington Post

“I have an alternative proposal: Send the ISS somewhere. The ISS, you see, is already an interplanetary spacecraft — at least potentially. It’s missing a drive system and a steerage module, but those are technicalities. Although it’s ungainly in appearance, it’s designed to be boosted periodically to a higher altitude by a shuttle, a Russian Soyuz or one of the upcoming new Constellation program Orion spacecraft. It could fairly easily be retrofitted for operations beyond low-Earth orbit. In principle, we could fly it almost anywhere within the inner solar system — to any place where it could still receive enough solar power to keep all its systems running.”

Editor’s note: Where do I start – the author is clearly confused as to how the ISS is constructed and what it does and does not have (it does have a “drive system and a steerage module”). As for his proposed mission scenarios, if only this man had a clue as to how much mass is involved, the energies required, and what the propulsive capabilities are of the things he wants to use to push the ISS around the inner solar system. As currently designed, Orion can barely get itself to the ISS!

According to the Post “Michael Benson, the author of “Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes,” writes frequently on space science issues.”. Well it sure is not evident from this article.